foregoing Verse According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledg of Him that hath called us to glory and vertue Where four things are layd down in which these precious Promises are fulfilled Life Godliness Glory Vertue These are the exceeding great things promised to be though not yet attained For it is one thing to have a Promise given and another to see the accomplishment of it as Christ saith to his Disciples I will send you the promise of my Father the Holy Ghost was promised before but yet to be sent by Christ 1. The first thing promised to which you are called is Life as the promise was to Sarah That according to the time of Life God would surely visit her and she should conceive c. The Spirit of Life is promised to you though yet the Thing is to be accomplished For how do we lie at present in our graves like Dead men long out of minde how dry and desolate and waste because the Spirit of Life that should quicken and enliven is not come The time of Life is not accomplished but the promise is gone forth that at the set time He will surely visit Sarah and the dry womb shall conceive though Abrahams body be dead and Sarahs womb dead and all seem to work to the contrary For great is the desolation now upon us We are sealed in our graves under death but yet this is the promise That the Dead shal hear the Voyce of the Son of God and live And This is an exceeding large and precious Promise 1. Life implies in it a freedom from death a recovery and deliverance out of its power Alas to Live is another manner of thing then we have conceived it We have gone about and acted and spoke like living men but have we Lived in all this have we been yet ever acquitted and freed from fears of death The Terrors of Death made me afraid saith David Are you not yet kept all your life time under this fear of Death You can never have rest nor quiet because the Jaylor is ever at your heels you are not yet freed from him Death reigned it is said from Adam to Moses now Adam was made a Living Soul He had a life to see and know good and evil but yet he could not come at it could not reach the Tree of life a sword was set to keep him off there But the second Adam is a quickening Spirit He hath life in Himself He was raised up by the power of God never to dye more and this is life indeed Now how many in the World are there that never yet came to be Living Souls to have understanding and light to know good and evil but when brought to that yet there is no freedom from Death Death reigns from Adam to Moses to that farther light which comes in by the Law opened and read to the Soul When the Commandment came saith Paul sin revived and I dyed Death yet reigned And now to be freed from this cruel Tyrant from eternal Death and to be made partakers of Life is an exceeding great and precious mercy Who can value it 2. The Man that is alive is capable of instruction and teaching He can hear and learn from others but the Dead know nothing at all saith Solomon while we lie dead in darkness fears unbelief faintings of spirit so long we know nothing hear nothing we are capable of nothing of the minde of God All is confused and without order in this land of Death What is the reason think you there is such a stupid senceless careless Heart upon you not an ecchoing back as was in Davids Heart When Thou saidst Seek my face My Heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek Why is not this minde and quickness and breathings of Truth in you Why you are dead Death reigns sin hath dominion you are not yet freed from that body of Death For were you but alive it were impossible but you should hear the voyce of the Son of God Truth would touch you and that is the first thing to be done to give you life and then sense and hearing will follow But you are now as unsensible at times as a post in the house and therefore you come and go and come and go and nothing is done why because you are under death It is not yet the time of Life and He will make us know we cannot quicken our own souls Adam would have been reaching to the Tree of Life when his Eyes were opened to know Good and Evil I but a flaming sword is set turning every way to keep the Tree of Life and if ever Adam live again it must be upon other terms He must be raised by another power and that freely of gift For he is now a dead man and cannot quicken his own Soul unless that quickening spirit of Life be put within and here lies the great strait to lie at the mercy of another whether He will ever again give life or not and if he will yet it must be in his own time too and not ours and therefore the Church is at a strait and complains There was none could tell her how long How long we must lie in the dust in our graves before Life shall be given we know not we cannot get it out of his hand Truth would never be good and sweet if we could attain it by our reachings Many may press in to take the Kingdom by violence and stealth but the Examiner will come Friend how came you in hither But of a certain this Promise of Life is given to some of us Hear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken The word is gone forth that you shall surely be visited at the Time of Life and till this be accomplished you cannot be capable of instruction Your reason and thoughts cannot reach it but are to sit silent in your graves till Christ shall call Lazarus come forth and so life be given and put within and this will be an eternal Life never to dye any more Death is no more to have dominion but yet it reigns This is your hour saith Christ and the power of darkness and whilest this government is up and those noises of Hell are within we cannot hear the voyce of Truth till the Soul is freed from the stormy wind and tempest and a calm be made We many times go about to quicken our selves and get life at our own hands and so reach up hopes and conclusions and promises to bear up a while but alass all must down again we must to our center to our graves till the spirit of Life be put in We are asking what we should do and what is our way as if then we could easily turn and do it but alass there is a mistake in the bottom Life must first be given us and we must rest in our graves till then and sit in silence in our darkness and
fire and live in the water That which nothing can shake But so far as the Salvation hath wrought a work indeed the Soul can say with David Though the Earth be moved and the Mountains cast into the midst of the Sea yet in this will I be confident c. So far as I am saved I am saved Death where 's thy sting Hell where 's thy victory This condemns and judges the World That this Ark takes in no water That there should be no staggering in the Soul but like Mount Zion which cannot be moved Wilt thou still hold thine integrity said that cursed Wife I says Job till I dye I will not give up my integrity But the man be he who he will be he never so wise bold and resolute to carry it out who hath not this Assurance by a sure and tryed work in his Soul I dare lay down my life for it there are times of staggerings and doubtings within calling his condition in question do what he can Let him nail his god never so fast yet Dagon must fall before the Ark some searching word of Truth will get in between the joynts of the closest armor and pierce their confidence do what they can 6. Noah condemns the World in this That though he be safe in the Ark and hath attained a sure refuge from the Flood yet this satisfies him not he is not at rest yet but sends forth the Dove to enquire about the abatement of the waters There is a condition beyond a sure and safe condition when Christ himself the Saviour is to deliver up the Kingdom to the Father when He promises to pray the Father to send them ANOTHER COMFORTER the Spirit of Truth to abide with them for ever And this is that Dove which the Soul can now send forth to carry out its requests to God and bring tydings from him And this is that which condemns the World That they have no such intercourse with God they have no such Spirit given to make their requests known by Though they may cut themselves and cry aloud O Baal save us yet no Answer comes there is not this Dove which Noah sends forth that can bring an Olive branch of Peace in its mouth and give a sure intelligence that the waters are abated that the wrath is ceased 7. He condemns the World by the real work of saving his house He prepared an Ark to that purpose to save his house and it did the thing intended He did save them And this judges all the World who though they build much yet they save none The wall and the dawber fall together They flee from their sheep when the Wolf comes and leave their eggs in the dust like the Ostrich But Noah did the thing he did save his house He left them not in the mid way till he brings them into the Ark He travels and is pained in Soul till Christ be formed in them This is that Interpreter one of a thousand that can shew to man his righteousness and never leaves till that be done and this condemns the World That sensual and devilish part will never endure thus to stick to the work to cleave to a people through all gainsayings opposings and ill requitals Many can preach so long as they may have honor and gain and be well thought of but now take away their Money or cross their Wills let them be despised and dishonored and they can presently be gone and leave their people and rid their hands of trouble so that they will stick to none farther then they can serve themselves and their own ends and thus nothing comes of their preaching They bring their people to nothing in the conclusion I have known some Ministers my self that have been preaching these thirty years and not a man converted by them What a miserable case is this But alass they were never taught themselves and how can they teach others But the Noahs they have a charge given them over their people they cannot get from them so easily You shall not see my face unless your youngest Brother be with you said Joseph They must not leave a hoof behinde that belongs to Israel Such a charge as this is layd upon me concerning some of your Souls That if you fall short I shall bear the blame for ever The blood will be required at my hand if I deal not faithfully and bring you home if you are not saved to the utmost But the encouragement to me is That some have gone through this work Noah did save his house his labor was not in vain and the Promise to Christ is He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied Noah is rewarded for his many years labor He saves his house And if the Lord would please after all my twenty years Travel and Preaching but to give me a People that might indeed build this Ark and attain to a sure knowledge of their Eternal Condition That they shall LIVE FOR EVER It would requite me for all if some of you might come forth thus to be Judges of the World and build such an Ark of Truth as that all the Dagons and Idol-worships of the World must fall before it III. The third Effect that follows this building of the Ark is this He became an Heir of the Righteousness which is by Faith And about this three things may be considered 1. What is this Inheritance It is a very large Inheritance it is to enjoy the Lord to be joyned and made one Spirit with him The Lord is my portion saith David The Lord is my lot my refuge the lifter up of my head This is a wonderful large Inheritance Great is the Portion of his People Thus shall it be done to the man whom he delights to honor He shall have an Inheritance in Light an Inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away no altering of it When I awake I am still with thee saith David His Inheritance abides sure to him Many have a great Portion to look on they have a great stock of Peace and Knowledg and Hopes and Confidence I but a worm eats through the Gourd in a night Riches make them wings and flee away Thus is the hope of the Hypocrite His house falls when he comes to lean on it His great bulk of confidence is but a heap of chaff which the wind soon blows away But David could say The Lord is my Portion I have enough The Lord lives and blessed be the Rock of my Salvation 2. What is it to be an Heir To be an Heir is to be born with a right and title to an Inheritance to have an Estate fall to one by right so that it cannot be cut off it can neither be sold nor given away from the Heir Now this is wonderful To be born with such a right and title to Eternal Life such a neer Interest in the Lord that nothing can separate from him neither tribulation nor sufferings nor life nor death things
false they were sent to be their Guides and Deliverers to bring thâ—m to the good Land But the Lyars mouth was open and this Christ is made to submit to to have his Life taken from him unjustly and without cause 4. Another Thing Christ submits to when he says Thy Will be done is to be put to the worst and shamefullest death of all The Circumstances aggravate the Death 1. He is crucified among two Thieves as one of that company guilty as they He is numbered with transgressors The Truth suffers as guilty though it be clear as Deceivers and yet true saith Paul Truth suffers between the Man and the Devil they are the two Thieves The Devil he is the great Thief he steals to himself Lordship and Power and to sit in the seat of God and to be Disposer of things He brags and vaunts All this will I give if thou wilt fall down and worship c. Alas they are none of his goods Then the Man he is a Thief too he steals a little hope and ease and rest a little release of his burthen when it presses very sore and this Thief steals for his want to satisfie his hunger and therefore he may be saved with Christ But between these two the Truth must dye as one of that number as a sinner and transgressor We have looked amiss as if the man only and the Devil were to suffer but the Truth in us because clear therefore that might scape No no that must suffer and lead the way to the man or else he alas can never suffer nor go through death But the good shepherd when he puts forth his own sheep he goes before them He suffers first and drinks the first cup. But 2. Where do they crucifie him Out of the City out of the place of blessing and carry him to the place of a skull as one of the Evangelists hath it a field of blood as another calls it but by both it appears to be a loathsom unworthy disgraceful place a place of filth and rottenness Out of the belly of Hell have I cryed unto thee c. No better a lodging for the Soul in this day then the belly of Hell it self and this Christ submits to 3. Yet further The Souldiers part his garments among them And truly this is a very sad case to consider How the Lusts that crucified the Truth yet they will divide its garments and put them on and they 'l be covered with a garb and covering of Truth The wisdom of the flesh that puts in for a share the hasty and eager zeal and affections they plead for a share the strange imaginations they plead a share and all will seem to be Friends to Truth notwithstanding they have but now put it to death yet they part his garments among them And this is a sad case to the sensible Soul that is bereaved of the Life of its Truth and of the garments also that hath lost all such a Soul can cry out bitterly with Mary They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have layd him 5. Yet further He submits to be left and forsaken of all his Friends His Disciples left him and fled Might he but have had them to stick to him in this day of his calamity it had been a great support and stay but they all leave him and are scattered every one to his own And herein lies a sore aggravation of misery if your Souls can read it that now in this woful day when all these woes are upon the back and press the Soul to death almost yet this must come in to add to all the rest That all the good that ever the Soul hath done and thought and laboured in the Truth all is now scattered and leaves it What ever it hath done singly and honestly and out of the good-will sown in its heart towards the Truth all the labours under the Sun now take their leave and seem vanity and vexation of spirit And here Christ cries out I have spent my labour in vain time will come you will forget that ever you had a good thought or a good word or did any thing for the Truth all wil leave you and be gone when now your Souls can sometimes hold on the innocency and single mindedness within and truly pray to be remembred according to that inward cleanness yet a day will come when all this will be laid aside and forgotten I forgot prosperity saith David and in another place he compares himself to the Dead that are forgotten for ever How had Christ once his Disciples about him and ready to his command when he sent out the Seventy two by two and now to be left of all and not one to stand by him this is a hard Trial and if it were not hid from the Soul if it could foresee what a day of Scattering of all its good and labours would come upon it as though they had not been it would discourage and make it flag in all its actings for God if it thought such a day of stripping all were to come They pierced my hands and my Feet saith Christ His Hands that had laboured in the Truth and his Feet that had ran the way of his Commandments These are now nailed fast to the Cross and he is not able to stir them The day will come when your Souls will hate all the Labours you have taken under the Sun when that Strait shall be upon you to crie out My God My God Why hast thou forsaken me Mark what I say for the day will surely come upon you and then all your Works and Labours will leave you All the good that ever hath passed upon you will not stand you instead in that day nor answer that Strait O Lord how is my Soul troubled when I feel how senselesse you are and far off from having the thing seise upon you indeed But it will surely come and then you will remember what hath been told you this Condition will befall you to be left alone as Christ complains Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and my acquaintance into darkness 6. Another misery greater then all is this His father hides his face from him he seems to forsake him and become an enemy that he cries out my God my God c. My God he can yet say but not my father he hath hid himself from the house of Jacob all the bowels are hid But why must this befall Christ that his father leaves him 1. He hides himself that he may not see the death of his childe the father cannot endure that and therefore he turns aside and hides his face his bowels and tenderness and puts on another habiâ— Cloaths himself with vengeance as with a garment when this work of death must pass then he seems all anger and hardens himself against the cries and tears of his Son then he comes with Refiners fire now the fire that hath no mercy
yet saith the Prophet Come and let us return to the Lord for He hath torn and He will heal c. In this Return these things are considerable First They that return know surely that They are out of the way the Soul must first be made truly knowing and sensible of that when it is met with in its gaddings as Hagar was by the Angel and examined strictly Whence comest Thou Hagar and whither wilt Thou go Thou art quite out of the way in flying from thy Mistress Sarah Return and submit unto her The going out is thus clearly opened and layd upon the Soul But wherein were They gone out of the way that They are called on to return 1. They were out of the way in that they broke prison and ran away from the strait as Chap. 5.10 The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound A bound was set to keep them in a narrower compass that God might the better come nigh to deal with them as it is in Job If They be bound in fetters and holden in the cords of affliction then He sheweth man his sin and his transgression how he hath exceeded Then is a time when God can come neer to search and dress the sore when the Soul is layd fast from running away when it is held in the Bond of the spirit then the heart is opened the wickedness discovered what a wretched case man is in hopeless and helpless And this is the way God takes to hide pride from mans eyes and lay him low in the dust And how have we gone out of the way in this We have removed the Bond and run away and would not endure the strait nor stick to our conditions to lie so low and wretched and helpless We have flown out from this and said as They No but we are Lords and will come no more at him Here have we turned out and if ever we return we must come in sensibly guilty under this of removing the bound and running away from our conditions living at our hands and own counsels at a distance from God And now here it is needful for all of you to enquire how it stands with you Have you all turned out here in removing the bound or were you yet never in it I know some of you were never as yet in this Bond of the Spirit but have been left to your own wills and runnings of heart and never yet were brought to this narrow compass But some of you I know have removed this bound have got from your sin and guilt and misery when opened to you You have turned your eyes away from your own sore and looked asquint on anothers faults and pryed into their miscarriages have spyed out the mote there but would not see the beam in our own eye but have covered that close and hid it and therfore is the stroke now come upon us God hath found us out though man could not and there is a secret moth hath eaten and consumed us and spoyled all our good because we have run away and would not endure the bond to be put upon us I know assuredly the time when God would have brought some of you to a strait that nothing should have contented you without the knowledg of the Love of God what the eternal thoughts are concerning you and what should become of us in the latter end that we might not live on notions or words or knowledg or operations nor any thing short of this but here have we broke away and would not endure to come at it But 2. They were out of the way in going about to cure themselves before the day came the time of deliverance Chap. 5.13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet He could not heal you such a reaching hath there been after ease and cure and deliverance before the time was come Therefore saith God I will be as a moth and rottenness to Ephraim a secret hand hath followed us as David says I am consumed by the blow of thy hand a secret consumption and mouldring away and coming to nothing and of all deaths this is most miserable to dye so by degrees fall in pieces and melt away to nothing like a snail and thus hath the Lord dealt with us such a wasting and decaying hath been upon us but yet the thing is not layd heart None speaks aright nor says What have I done what is the cause of this desolation Why is the hand against me How hath a secret moth eaten up all our good Time was there was a tender conscience an awe of spirit and fear to offend a watchfulness over all our ways and thoughts and words but now all is gone The Lord hath smitten us and our flower fadeth And now if this were indeed but sensibly upon us it would make us look home and not have our eyes in every corner to pry into one anothers failings but it would be work enough to look on our own guilt to see how we have broke the bonds and got away from owning our shame and lying under our misery and have not stayd till we were washed from our blood but have washed our selves and forced our selves as Saul did to offer sacrifice when we heard but a report of deliverance Behold this is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Yea presently we reckoned all this our own and clambered up to get into the liberty before we were called for our of our prisons and we must therefore down again to our bonds we were but an untimely birth and must not live to see the Sun We tarryed not in our graves till that word came from Christ Damosel Arise Lazarus Come forth but we broke away by force as a Servant runs from his Master and that shews we broke from him in that there is no heart to return we never cared for the Lord nor loved him since but as we have been forced to Him for a little ease and when we have got that we have been gone presently and cared for no more Secondly The second Thing considerable in this Return is from the Call and Counsel of the Prophet Come and let us return c. Being once out we cannot return of our selves without counsel The Soul knows not what to do nor which way to turn being once lost it is in such an amaze so foolish a thing is man and therefore if we are never brought to that strait to cry out for some to counsel and lead and tell us what to do Men and Brethren what shall we do to be saved without this there will be no returning For out we are got that is certain and have miserably lost our selves For some of us were formerly truly touched and visited and taken out of the world were made to see and understand the vanity of our former ways and in what a miserable and dangerous estate
that unpardonable Sin and there could have been no mercy for us But What was Jerusalem ignorant of She was ignorant of her Day O that thou hadst known in this thy Day It was the time and day of her Visitation and she knows it not This day saith Samuel to Saul would the Lord have established the Kingdom upon thee had he known the time and stood in that nick but falling there he lost all So the woman of Samaria she looked for the Messias to come and that He would tell her all things but she was ignorant of the present season she knew not that He was the Messias who now talked with her So have we been hoping and expecting and promising our selves great things for the future but have not known the present day and the present mercies offered us For my own part had I known my time and day afforded me I can truly say I had been prevented of many of the miseries mischiefs and miscarries that I have fallen into And how many times have you killed the strugglings and motionings of the Spirit in you and said To morrow we will consider of it and hear and come up to what is called for when alas to morrow is not ours we know not but this may be the day and if this be slipt over by us it may never be offered more but we are reasoning and disputing away the time saying Sure this is not the call and mind of Truth this would make me a scorn and hissing stock to all sure this would undo me And thus we are keeping off our mercies No but we judg amiss He would bring thee to Himself to know the things that belong to thy Peace to have Peace in all thou goest about which is worth all We have now no Peace in all our ways turn whither we will to eating and drinking and trading to all our employments and enjoyments yet nothing shall give rest and ease to them that are to be saved till this Peace be given and this Christ weeps for that this Peace should be no more known nor minded by Ierusalem but the time slipt over and lost and gone whilest we stand and oppose our own Salvation and would never come at it But you will say Is such a Thing in man that would not be saved and come to know the things which belong to his Peace and everlasting good I there is that which opposeth it to the Death if the Lord prevent not But how ever the Soul may be saved in the day of the Lord yet a great Loss may come the inlargements and attainments may be lost But now they are hid from thine eyes c. and much misery sorrows may be brought on our heads as in the Verse following Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and keep thee in on every side and not leave one stone upon another c. Methinks while I read and consider it to whom he speaks to Ierusalem that God should deal thus exactly and be so severe and harsh to his own People this is marvelous and makes my heart ake to think on it and yet thus He will deal with Ierusalem I told you the high nature of their sin to destroy their Prophets is 1. An unnatural sin it is to kill their own Souls And 2. An ungrateful sin against all love and mercy and tenderness a requiting of the greatest evil for the greatest good And then 3. What a venture is it to run such a desperate hazard who that should see this in himself and have the sense seize upon him would not cry out O what have I done I remember it was so with me in my day when Christ was offered to me and my Soul drew back refused the Lamb of God that which I had so long cryed and prayed and longed for yet when offered to me Lo here is my Son that then I should refuse it Lord I said to my Soul what have I done what will become of me what now can save me Then another Cause of Christs weeping over Ierusalem I told you was their Ignorance that They knew not the things which belonged to their Peace and what Things were they Why saith Christ How often would I have gathered thee as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and you would not They knew not the goodness of the Lord the day of Grace offered that then He was calling and inviting and gathering them to Himself Now this I would bring home to our selves to see how it will parallel with our conditions whether the Lord hath not thus sought to gather us in our day as a Hen gathereth her Chickens In which these several things are Considerable 1. A Hen calleth her Chickens after her she goes before and clocks and clocks to call them together to follow her till she gets them all about her and so hath the Lord dealt with us the Call of Truth hath reached us and brought us together out of several Countries and places and conditions one Call of the Truth hath met with us and brought us together 2. The Hen after she hath gathered her chickens about her she sits down and settles in some place and so hath Truth now it hath gathered us together it hath sat down amongst us it hath taken up a setled place of abode that we are not now wanderlng abroad to find a Truth or a People to joyn with 3. After the Hen hath called her chickens together and sat down in her place the next thing she doth is this she spreads forth and opens her wings to receive and take them in so hath the Truth opened and spread forth the wings of its favor and goodness and entertainment the way is open and free all that will may come under and find acceptance and tendering all that are the chickens indeed that belong to this Hen to this Truth and not of a false brood 4. The Hen receives her chickens under her wings to warm cherish and revive them and that is the end of Truths gathering and opening it self to receive and take us in to fellowship and counsel and unity it is that we might be warmed and helped and relieved and prosper If two lie together there is heat but how can one be warm alone Take a quick coal out of the fire and it dyeth presently And the Holy Ghost says Wo to him that is alone But the Prospering way that Truth calls to is where Brethren live together in unity to come under one wing for counsel and help and direction in all our ways 5. The Hen gathers her chickens under her wings as to warm and cherish them so to protect and keep them out of danger and harms the Kite or some ravenous thing or other soon catches them when they leave the Hen and straggle alone And this is a certainty whilest we stand alone by our selves out of the counsel and care and submission under Truth we are open to a thousand dangers
not you that sold me c. ' I sent you into the wilderness to learn you experience that when you are converted you might strengthen your Brethren Thus you may see of what use Rings are and this is wonderful that God should so adorn the hand with his Rings To be 1. Skill'd in the works of Truth 2. To be diligent in the work of Truth And 3. To be garnish'd with this to be busied about things of worth to be exercised in things that abide for ever Let all your things saith Paul be done to edification Let nothing be out of strife or vain glory but all for the building of something that shall stand for ever But yet this son is wanting still as if the Father should say What if we clothe him with the best robe and put Rings on his hands yet if his feet be not shod too how can he go Therefore 3. This is the third thing And put shooes on his feet c. Let him be shod with the Preparation of the Everlasting Gospel of Peace The feet are the Affections which are to be wrought upon 1. To go but how why Let all your things saith Paul be done in Love There 's need your feet be prepared to serve the Lord in Love And that our loves might be prepared there 's need of shooes to put on that the feet might be enabled to go upon the bryars and thorns to endure the frost and the snow need to have the Love made strong to endure hardness Love saith Paul suffereth long and is kinde envyeth not seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth c. 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6. It had need be shod indeed When God said to Moses Thou shalt carry this people in thy bosom as a Mother doth her child c. Alass pleads he how can I carry all this people If thou dealest thus with me I pray thee take me away that I may not see my wretchedness He had not Love enough to carry him through There 's need of great preparations if such a service be in hand And now the Prodigal shall be made to endure to bless when he is cursed because he knows now the heart of a stranger We our selves saith Paul were sometimes strangers and aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel hateful and hating one another He having a knowledg into this was made to endure Though the more abundantly I love saith he the less I be loved That there may not be a shrinking here this is one main thing he has need of of the shooes of that which may be a fence a safeguard to his feet that no fiery darts no discontents c. may stop or overturn him But then 2. The shooes are that the Love might run the swifter without fear Withhold thy Feet from being VNSHOD saith God and thy throat from thirst Jerem. 2.25 Thou makest my Feet like HINDES FEET saith David But when the Love is cold then the heart by and by waxeth feeble and faint Ezra was astonish'd and sat seven days so because he had said The Lord was able to save them therefore said he I was ashamed to go to the King for a band of men His Love began to be feeble at last And Job sat astonish'd seven days his Love was cold he could not have offended had that been alive Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing can offend them How do we stand and pick and choose But when we shall be made able to say as Paul I am not onely ready to be bound for the Name of Christ but to suffer death also When so shod then shall we go boldly without fear when the Love is shod with quickness then I shall run the way of thy Commands When thou hast set my feet at liberty saith David then will the Soul readily love the Lord with all the heart and all the soul and all its strength But when it 's not quick and lively there come in the miscarriages For 1. It 's not shod to endure And 2ly then it has not quickness to speed on the work but through reasoning and disputing the case the Love waxes cold And the Prodigal shall be made to see to his cost when he returns home what his Leaden-heel'd Love was But 3. The third thing that prepares the Love is singleness solidness and faithfulness these are the shooes that garnish his feet these are the Affections to be shod with The double minded man saith James is unstable in all his ways When the Prodigal comes home and sees how double he had been before in all his ways now he is made to say It was good for me that I was afflicted for thereby I learn'd thy Law Now he can say One thing have I desired which now I will seek after That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever to enquire dayly in his Temple c. Now the Prodigal has learn'd this He knows what it is to put his hand to the plow looking backwards Now his Love is singly fixt upon its object but when it was not single how did he soon wander from it He was bare-foot then but when he comes home then the Father puts on his shooes they were not of his putting on but the Fathers done by his command But all along while I am speaking to you and am seeing what divided hearts you come with and the great loss that is come upon you there 's great need to pray to the Father that he would bring the shooes his Love to set the Affections right to love with rightness readiness and singleness for if He bring them not this evil and hypocritical will will be our undoing But saith God You shall finde me when you shall seek me with all your heart and all your soul He will be sought to of the house of Israel And he has not said to the house of Jacob Seek my face in vain But he that offers to the Lord for a sacrifice that which is torn or lame and has a male in his flock He abhors that mans offering He will receive none but that which is without blemish and that will make our works accepted as Paul saith Faith that works by Love and doth all in singleness of Soul That will make every thing acceptable in his sight 4. A fourth thing the Soul is to be shod with is Soberness for there may be a real singleness of spirit and yet a great headiness Therefore saith Paul let your Moderation be seen in all things For if we cannot say as Job The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the Name of the Lord there is not a sober love Therefore Put off thy shooes said God to Moses He was yet over-heady and not fit to walk as you may see in his strait concerning Miriam because God had stricken her with Leprosie he prays Lord heal her now But as if God
wisdom and will believe God no farther then we can see him but keep off our misery though we are warned by the voyce of the Cryer and warned by our own hearts to know how deceiveably they have dealt with us yet we will hold our hold and not give up all flesh for corrupt and wretched and cry out In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing Till this we must welter in our misery no Cure will come 3. We have been warned by Providence of this an ordering Hand of God hath preach'd That all flesh is grass How hath it taken away some of us by Death and how hath the world a late been let loose upon the rest What plots and contrivances are there on foot to break us a pieces if the Lord prevent not What stirings are there and waitings for our halting And what mean all these stirs and hurly-burlies Sure they have an end they come for the destruction of the flesh they come to shew that flesh yet lives that there is a fleshly coming together fleshly hearing and trusting in our outward mercies crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and so rest in the shadow and come not to the preparing of an Ark indeed And therefore you see how it hath fallen upon some of us to be divided and taken away by force and carried to strange Tryals And think not with your selves that they were greater sinners then the rest No but certainly unless we repent that are yet left together the Hand will go against us and the men of the world shall have their wills to root us out from being a People Therefore if we shall be warned this day to lay it to heart it will be well if the Word and the Work and the present hand of Providence if all make you consider and know that all flesh hath corrupted its way and that out of flesh you must come then it 's well Out of Sodom you must come that is certain and if one thing will not do it another shall We have certainly lived all of us besides the mercies afforded We might have been Teachers of others for the time but alas we have been dull of hearing and have need to be taught into the first Principles of repentance from dead works Therefore there is need now at the last you should be warned That all flesh is grass and this you will grant in a word But come to particulars and there your fleshly wisdom wilâ— be Judg what is right and what is wrong and flesh will never judg it self and so all is kept off from seizing upon the heart for certainly else you could never keep up to live alone as you do upon your own thoughts and counsels without the Lord As it is said God is not in all their thoughts Oh therefore Consider this all you that forget God! And whilest it is called to day harden not your hearts Fall under the mighty hand and own your misery and if you know it not be jealous and enquire with fear What means this voyce of the Cryer ' Am I indeed so corrupt and miserable and know it not Say with Job What I know not teach thou me till the Thing be opened for some way or other this Lesson must be learn'd you That All flesh is grass and the Lord spares none of you and nothing in any of you but All flesh the whole House of Israel have corrupted their way You are all guilty and have turned aside to vain things and have forsaken the Lord days without number and the strait is not yet upon you The Lord make you sensible where you stand But then 2. We have been warned of that too as Noah was That the End of all flesh is come before God How often hath this been told you That He will not always bear His Spirit will not ever strive The Patience will wear out at the last nay it is even expired and if the Lord move you not with fear as Noah was moved to prepare an Ark desolation will surely come the Flood will overtake you some way or other either Death will come and bind us fast from our wills in the grave or sufferings from unreasonable men will come to shatter us asunder and break us in pieces and then whither shall we turn for counsel and help in our straits How may we then prize the days which we now slight Surely one way or other God will take to bring All Flesh to an end And if we have no other hope nor confidence but in the flesh if we stick still in our self-wills and fleshly minds we shall not be able to stand in that day It is not your high looks nor great thoughts that will then carry you out not your knowledg of Scriptures nor understanding of Mysteries none of your carnal hopes nor carnal fears nor carnal reasonings will now stand as they have done formerly but the Flood will sweep away all that is born of the flesh Therefore if we shall be made to judg our selves before-hand and cry out O search me and try me if there be any way of wickedness in me and bow under the Judgment then it 's well for us But if there be such a saying within I shall have peace in the way of my own heart this evil shall not come that is spoke of I shall have ease and rest and dye in my nest saith Job if thus you put the evil day far from you it will surely overtake you unawares in a day when you think not of it when they were eating and drinking and marrying the Flood came c. 3. We have been also warned as Noah was to prepare an Ark We have been minded often both from a Word without and stirrings within to look after a sure testing place a Refuge a shelter that which will keep off all Floods and storms and Tryals Though the Earth be moved into the midst of the Sea yet saith David I will not fear His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord And in another place My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed There is sure such a place whither the Righteous can flee and they are safe In the Name of the Lord in that Tower under his wing in the secret of his Pavilions in his Bosom in his Love when that is opened to the Soul and a mansion given it there Now if thou hast all parts and knowledg and operations and good desires and good resolvings all these will not save thee in the day of the Flood The Waters will get above over all the high Mountains the whole Earth how high soever it be yet if it be of the Earth if it be born of the flesh and the will of man it will not stand But There is a Rest for the People of God Wast thou ever brought into that Hath the Lord Jesus ever shewed thee thy lot and portion in that Eternal Love that thou art chosen there
one of you if you were called this night to dye that are at a certainty for your conditions what shall become of you you have nothing certain to stick to If you look over all your treasure your hopes and promises and operations from Truth yet the bed is too short and the covering too narrow I remember the saying of an old Professor which was long my Guide and Teacher and many years had been zealous and strong and forward in Religion yet when he lay upon his death-bed and great things were expected from him I know not saith he whether all that ever I have done in all my life hath not been in hypocrisie All his great confidence was gone in a moment and he at a pitiful uncertainty what should become of him I am sure it made my heart startle to hear it and say in my Soul Art thou now to seek after all then what shall become of me who am far short and but a new beginner 4. This Consideration may move you to fear Not knowing how soon the day of Mercy may be slipt over and the day of Visitation hid from our eyes It hath been no small Mercy the peaceable Government we have lived under we have had Liberty and Peace to meet together it is more then was afforded in my day it cost me dearer But now do you think it will last always Is there not a fear upon you lest the day be gone and a breaking and scattering should befall us And then we may remember Sion and weep by the Rivers of Babylon in our bonds 5. This moved Noah with Fear lest the Deluge should come before his Ark was finished and therefore he presently hastens to the work and did as the Lord commanded him Now doth it take this place Are your Souls afraid lest the day should come unawares and prevent you Sure if you are it will put you out of hand to look after a shelter and presently to set upon the work to prepare an Ark. III. The next general Thing to be Considered will be WHAT THIS ARK WAS How to be built And what a Type of This Ark typed out Christ all confess He is that Alone Refuge for all the saved ones to hide themselves in when ruine and desolation and destruction comes upon the whole world beside Now the Ark had three Stories which type out three Conditions and states that Christ went through to finish and compleat the great Work of Salvation 1. A day of Christs weakness and Death This the 1. Story Of the Ark. 2. A day of his Resurrection from the Grave This the 2. Story Of the Ark. 3. A day of ascending and entring into Glory This the 3. Story Of the Ark. And all the saved ones must tread in the same steps and go through these three conditions in the work of Salvation c. I. Christ had a day of weakness a day of death and sufferings He was crucified out of weakness And if ever you will build this Ark to the saving of your souls you must begin at this lowest Story If we are planted into the likeness of his Death we shall be also into the likeness of his Resurrection If you suffer with him you shall reign with him If you take up his cross and be faithful to the Death He will give you a crown of Life But if you deny him he will deny you If we drink not with him in the cup of Vinegar and Gall we shall not drink of that new wine with him in the Kingdom of God If you will indeed be like Him you must begin here No man can build a Castle in the Ayr if there be no Foundation and there is no other Foundation but JESVS CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED Now this Death of Christ takes in a large compass and who will follow him here 1. He dyed to all things both lawful and unlawful He sought not Himself in any thing He could have prayed to his Father and have commanded Legions of Angels to save him He was Lord of all and yet became poor and made himself of no reputation He layd down all his just Rights and Priviledges and comes not to do his own Will but the Will of another Now if you look it over how hard are we to part with unlawful things We are holding what in our own Consciences belongs not to us and we have no right to nor can we have peace in the enjoyment of it and yet how is the heart gathering and reaching and coveting O fill my belly clothe my back pity my case consider my tryals And thus every one would scramble all to himself and never care what becomes of another though in our Consciences we know these reachings are utterly sinful and unlawful But now who will follow Christ in that other Branch Who will begin to dye to lawful things that which we may justly plead a right and title to To clear our selves where we are innocent to have our Love answered with Love to have others deal with us as we deal with them This we say we may justly plead for I but to suffer wrongfully to be numbred with Transgressors to be counted a wine-bibber a companion of Publicans and Sinners one having a Devil a Deceiver a Blasphemer Thus it was with Christ though he was without sin neither was guile found in his mouth And yet this he takes up and lies under and lays down his neck to the block and submits This is your hour and the power of Darkness No more but so Who will follow Christ here to suffer servants to ride on horseback and thou though a Prince one truly belonging to God yet to go on foot Thus did Christ He went on taking up his Cross dayly and this Cross was not onely outward sufferings and reproaches and denyals from the World but alass it takes in a parting with and dying to all seen things all that the Will sticks to all that the Soul chooses all that is dear and precious to give up all Christ could justly have pleaded That he had a right to God a right to all the Creatures He might have enjoyed of the best the World affords No but He resigns up his Will to the Will of his Father He gives up all and though He was rich yet became poor c. And if you come not to this to follow him here you shall never build this Ark And wo to the wantons of this world that talk highly and largely for God but live loosely and reproach the Cross of Christ as much as any will not enter themselves nor suffer others 2. He did not only dye to all things lawful and unlawful but He did it quietly and patiently He took it well He gave up his life He layd it down none took it from him But how far are we from this When any thing is hard indeed and pinches us to the heart how do we struggle and take it ill There is an envying arises against the
present nor things to come None can pluck them out of my Fathers hand saith Christ This is wonderful 3. How came Noah to this Inheritance He became Heir of the Righteousness which is by FAITH He came to it by beleeving That is the way how this Portion is made over to all the Noahs even by Faith Though it belongs to them before yet they enjoy but as they receive and they receive as they beleeve Be it unto thee according to thy Faith They begin but with a little flock a little beleeving O ye of little Faith saith Christ but a small grain of mustard-seed A little Faith to set up with and that too of things not yet seen things out of sight out of hand and yet by improving this little how doth it grow and grow and spread to a large Tree What encrease comes of it It leaves not growing till it brings up the Soul and joyns it in to God himself till Noah is made an Heir of Righteousness And therefore O Lord that you were but brought to stick to this small beginning to beleeve the word of Prophecy which is gone forth concerning you How might it grow and encrease to a mighty and large Portion I have thus spoke many and great things to you from these words but the Sum of all hath been to this purpose 1. To shew how short you yet are where you lie and stick in the mire and have no Ark to receive you know not what shall become of you in the latter end 2. That your Souls might be put to a strait to look after such an Ark as Noah prepared such an Assurance and Security as may hold out in a Deluge such a sure certain and unquestionable estate as may stand in all storms and judg all the false ways and rotten shelters of the World And now if the Lord seize not the thing upon your hearts but it slip off like water as many words do then I know you will have no peace in your own consciences and you will never be Judges of the World nor come to Honor Noah was moved with Fear to the building of an Ark but now if that will not do it if Fear move not yet Will not such an Inheritance such a security move you as may be attained to There is a sure place there is a Rest there is a way of Wisdom which no fowl hath seen where no ravenous beast destroys which nothing can reach nor disturb The Lord seize it home upon your hearts to consider it THE Chosen generation AND ROYAL PRIESTHOOD WITH THEIR True Marks and Characters SERM. IX May 11. 1651. 1 PET. 2.9 But ye are a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a Peculiar People that ye should shew forth the Praises of Him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvelous Light The Analysis I. A CHOSEN GENERATION At first all lay in one lump till the choyce made by God In choosing seven things considered 1. Men weigh and consider before they choose so God pitched on a people to be his with deliberation and advice not at random 2. Men affect what they choose what ever the thing be in it self so the Lord set his love upon a people delighted in his portion 3. Men separate and take out of other things what they choose so God pulls the Brand out of burning takes His out of all the World 4. In choosing that which is chosen hath no hand at all so God chose his people freely nothing in them to move him 5. Things chosen are set apart for some special use so the Lord had an End an use intended for the vessels of honor 6. Men promise themselves something in the things they choose so God expects fruit from his Vine Love and entertainment from his Chosen 7. Men have a special eye and care of things they choose so Gods Eye is after his Chosen in all Tryals and Sorrows II. A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD of the royal race sprung from the Lord himself of that stock Whence three things considered 1. They have an Interest in God can go to a Father not a Judg. 2. Hence great boldness to go to God fear and shame are cast out 3. Hence they prevail in what ever they ask according to his Will All was brought home to Particulars And lest all thrust in seven Notes were layd down to distinguish this Chosen Generation 1. A certain close in their Souls to Truth onely no shadows can deceive them 2. A certain weariness always upon them giving no rest in all enjoyments A want still 3. God is ever their utmost thing All others are content with Parts and Gifts c. 4. This Spirit presses on to the highest and most single way though never so sharp to it 5. This Generation have secret hintings spring at times That they belong to God 6. In greatest falls and sins no hintings as if utterly cut off because of sin 7. A witness always in their Souls That when ever they have a heart to return they shall be received The Father stands ready to receive the Prodigal He waits to be gracious this Hope ever speaks not thus with the Cains or those that belong not to God 1 PET. 2.9 But ye are a Chosen Generation c. GO round about Zion tell her Towers Mark ye well her Bulwarks that ye may tell it to the generation following For this God is our God for ever and ever He will be our Guide unto Death Psal 48.12 And again The Lord hath chosen Zion And again He will surely hear the afflictions of the afflicted and answer their cry Though they may now seem forsaken and forgotten though abjects and out-casts in the eyes of the World disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious So was it with our Lord and Master and so will it be with all them on whom the Father hath set his Love in like manner However the World may look on them or they judg of themselves yet in the Eye of God 't is thus Ye are a chosen Generation c. Now there is great need to distinguish between things and things that the Trumpet may give a certain sound who are this chosen People that are thus beloved for it belongs not to all men I came not but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Many widows were in Israel but onely to one poor widow of Sarepta was Elijah sent And it is not meet saith Christ to take the childrens bread and give it to the dogs Some are dogs as some are children and Peter tells Simon Magus plainly Thou hast neither lot nor part in this matter Lest every one should thrust in there are bounds set not All but YE are a chosen Generation Not every one that says Lord Lord shall enter Not every one that comes and hears and sits in the house among the children is of this chosen Generation of that blessed seed No but in Isaac shall
but saith Paul I would to God you did reign viz. that it were such a reigne as would last and hold Now who spake he to not to the rude world nor to the ignorant but such as he had in his heart to live and dye with such as he had espoused to Christ the match was made but not the thing done they were not wrought off from all things nor wrought up to that one husband into the minde of Christ though out of a light instruction and choice the thing was owned and approved And here the man gets peace and ease and liberty is free from guilt and torments and perplexities the man can goe on either hand if a mind to God and Truth thither he can turn if a mind to the Creatures he can turn thither the door is open and he can suck sweet from every thing his wayes are all washt in butter smooth soft and easie And here saith David my mountain was so strong I said I shall never be moved here the man sits as a King this is his day of reigning But II. There is another dispensation follows a time of the Devils reign this is a sad and wofull change Another king arises which knows not Joseph the man when he was King he knew God and owned truth and joyned it with him in his Kingdom though yet in the throne Pharaoh will sit above the man was uppermost in all But now another king rises that will not know Joseph and he deals cruelly with Israel then the hard Task-masters and cruel burdens come he will know nothing but his own will and lust and cruelty And Wo to the inhabitants of the world when the devil comes down to reign amongst them when Jeroboam reigns that makes Israel sin And how often have our fathers been at sore pinches and cried out in bitterness of soul when this time of the devils reign was upon them It is a woful kingdom indeed a cruel reign And these seven Woes lie up in it 1. One Wo is that he is a strong man How have our fathers owned his might and cried out under it Thou hast delivered me saith David from my STRONG enemy for he was too strong for me And again My enemies live and they are MIGHTY And Hezekiah cries out Lord I am opprest undertake for me And again We have no might against this GREAT HOST Alas when the man compares but himself to him what a Nothing is he to this great Goliah but as a fly a worm a gnat a stripling and he a man of war from his youth And here the heart sinks and dies at the very thoughts of dealing with him Was he but an ordinary enemy that might be matched any ways and the thing but feasible to fight with him then Man would have some hope but alas he carries all before him Shall not one be cast down at the very sight of him as 't is said of the Leviathan who was a type of the devil Iron is counted as rotten wood to him he laughs at the shaking of a spear Who is able to deal with this monstrous Leviathan If ever you but begin to reason and tamper the matter with him you are certainly foiled and worsted he will surely get beyond you 't is in vain to contend with him But let him vaunt and boast and rail on the Kings commandment is not to answer a word that 's the way Truth points us to to be still and lie under and say with Christ This is your hour and the power of darkness Until we can go out against him as David did in the Name of the Lord let us never stir though he come and vaunt himself and reproach Israel fourty days yet there is no other way but with Hezekiah to spread the Letter before the Lord and cry under the misery 2. He is not onely strong but a thorowout malignant enemy maliciously set and bent to destroy all truth exalts himself above all that is called God root and branch he strikes at all he deals as Herod who killed all the children from two yeers old and upward that he might be sure to meet with the childe Jesus and not let him escape So this malicious enemy kills every budding and springing of God in the soul he kills all the light kills the single love kills all the good desires that not so much as a right word or desire or groan may live and in all this his aim is utterly to destroy the Truth the principle of God sown in the soul Alas he cares not else if he can but kill the little spark of the Spirit of life he cares not what else passes by and lives Let us hear and meet together and eat and trade and take ease and content this is not the thing he is set against so but to smite the king of Israel onely that is his plot that was the wicked counsel of Ahithophel to kill David onely and bring all the people back to Absalom Neither small nor great doth he strike at but the King onely he cares not what lives so the Lord Christ the Truth the Seed of life the Heart and Minde of God may die in us Such a height of wickedness is in him that nothing else will content him but the death of all that would be a Lord over him a controuler a King this Herod cannot bear That which sits in the kings gate and will not bow to him that resolved Truth that will not fall down and worship the Idol nothing will content Haman but the death of this though he get Decrees against all the Jews though invited to the Queens banquet and sit next the King yet nothing will content him whilst this Mordecai lives that Seed of God that root of the matter that which will not stoop and buckle to him that he aims at and his fingers itch to cut off this name of Israel for ever And Oh what a Wo is this to be under such a cruel malicious enemy that would not give a moments respite not so much as a little breathing-time for the Truth not a little hope not a little desire not the least stirring of an inclination but he 's upon it presently if it were possible to stop every chink that the smoaking flax might not have the least vent but be utterly extinct and quenched 3. A third great Wo lies in this that he hath a time and power given him of God to afflict and try God allows it and gives him leave to strike Job This is YOVR HOVR saith Christ an hour was given them And God saith I will cause them to pass under the rod. And 't is said in the Psalms He TVRNED the hearts of their enemies to hate them He gives him his time and commission to rend and tear waste spoil and imprison and none can call him to account for it his Commission will bear him out Alas what a day is this In the time when the Man reigned he promised himself
with flesh and blood and go back in any of these we surely perish III. Consider the great Submission and Bowedness of Heart in these Lepers Let us fall into the hoast of the Syrians we can but dye c. About this three things considered 1. They rise in this strange leprous out-cast famish'd forlorn case as they are Come and let us fall into the Hoast c. 2. They venture upon Death it self the mouth of Cannon need makes them run they fall upon the Sword of their Enemies 3. Yet they go at a peradventure without any conclusions either that they shall live or shall dye but leave it and venture And thus the Soul truly buckled comes in these three cases The Uses were 1. To enquire whether the sense of our misery be upon us as it was with the Lepers and that noise ever in our ears If we sit here we dye 2. If sensible then learn What did the Lepers they ventured upon the Sword You 'l never have bread by ease but venturing to endure 3. Learn the way of their going without conclusions for or against our selves to say Sure we shall be saved or sure we shall fall short stand between both and go at a peradventure 2 KING 7.3.4 And there were four Leprous men at the entring in of the gate and they said one to another Why sit we here untill we die c. THere are three main things in generall which this day I would open to you from these words 1. What an estate of misery the Lâ—pers were in at the present 2. How hopeless and helpless all wayes and meanes seemed in their view for a recovery If sit here we dye if we go into the City the famine is there and we dye also Death hedges them in on both sides 3. Take notice of their submitted minds how they are bowed to the hand that is against them .. They venture and fall under the Lords Sword the Hoast of the Syrians come what will if they kill us we can but dye a great buckling of heart was upon them and they go not knowing the end but carry their lives in their hands But consider I. What their present condition is and how suitable it is to ours in these five particulars For this that befell them came not upon them for their sakes only but was writ for ensample to us which are fallen in the same condition 1. Then observe these Lepers sate without the City they were out-casts a people forgotten cast off as it were and not left to share in the mercies of the Common-weal of Israel Now the Common-wealth of Israel injoyed many priviledges they had the Ordinances the Temple the Worship and there was a common blessing that ran in these to them not as though the Word had taken no effect saith Paul it did take some effect but now to be separated and shut out and to have the heart hardened that the Word and all Ordinances slip over and take no effect this is to sit out of the City and be separated from the common good of Israel not to partake of the power of the Word but the heart hardened and left without all sense and feeling and motion that whilest it is in the Ordinance yet it is as not in it In hearing it doth not hear and in seeing it doth not see but is as a stone in a wall that what ever weight lyeth on it it feels nothing and in such a day as this to be left as an out-cast to have no fellowship from heaven and no fellowship from earth no society either with God or Man this is the Lepers sad condition destitute afflicted tormented Heb. 11.37 But now to come home to our selves for that is the life of all For what is it to me to hear of the mercy or judgment or sin or misery or recovery of another if I have not my share in the condition it will never seize but passe over as a Tale that is told now therefore see if this be not our present condition do we not stand some of us as out-casts are not we cast out of the favour and nearnesse of God of the Truth and of our Brethren I am a stranger to my brethren saith David and so Iob and Christ and our Fathers tasted of this Cup. How senseless and stupid is the heart under this Word and Ordinances They take no place at all like a dead man out of mind saith David as like a dead man as may be only not dead Spare his life saith God concerning Iob the life is maintained strangely by a secret invisible unaccountable power the root of the matter is in me saith Iob I but his bough is not green nor doth the dew lie all night upon his branch his ways are not washt in butter as in months past where are all our former operations and powers and flourishings in the truth where is the Love the tender heart the single minde the cryes and groans to be satisfied with substance indeed and no shadows have not all our riches made themselves wings and are flown away and are not we left miserably naked and destitute of all the power of the Word that reaches us not the love and help from one another the bowels of compassion they are shut up how miserable forlorne are we both within and without we looke and gaze on one another but if we come but near to speak and breath a word together either heart-rising or envy or some evil taint or other gets in do what we can this is our present condition if we were but sensible of it all good is separated from us and we are like the clung and frozen earth hardned and hardened that nothing can enter though the Light appears and shines bright to shew us our way yet are we but like the earth in a winter night the hardest Frost many times is upon it when the Moon shines clearest and brightest the Sun the warm and enlivening beams of that are far off we stand out of the City and are not partakers of the common mercies of Israel the hired Servants had bread enough and to spare but the Prodigall wanted that the ordinances were in Israel there were widows in sad cases to mourn and make lamentation there were Prophets to bring a word from God to enquire and tell how long the sufferings were to endure and what the meaning of the hand was and what the end would be as Peter saith Ye have a more sure word of Prophesie to which do wel to take heed c. though in the dark yet it was a great mercy to have that sure word of Prophesie to have entercourse there but alas the Lepers they must sit without the City where they can hear no word from God nor have any notice of good there is none to turn aside to ask how they do for it is all one in the mystery to be out of the house to be out of the ordinance out
is more miserable still but then to be in a Famine too that the Soul can turn no whither for bread the Nobles come to the pit and there is no water the poore and needy seek water and there is none c. This is a wonderfull hard case indeed 4. Another misery of these Lepers was They were encamped round about with the host of the Syrians their enemies were all about them on every side and though they were such sorry worthless things so full of woes and miseries that it might scarce seem worth the while to kill them yet they stand in great fear of their Lives too lest their enemies should fall upon them and slay them for an Host was now come forth a sworn company of profest enemies against all that belong to Israel and have entred a League to cut off and destroy both root and branch and though the Soul be but as a dry leaf a Partridge upon the mountains a thing of no worth as David pleads with Saul Alas against whom is the King of Israel come forth against a flea such a sorry thing as I am So the Soul sometimes pleads alas what a wretched creature am I I am destitute of God and truth shut out from his people all overspread with a loathsome Leprosie ready to dye for hunger dryed up to nothing with want and famine and is not this misery enough Is there need of other force and violence an Host to come against me the Soul sometimes seriously debates the Case What is the meaning that all should thus conspire against a poor desolate creature a thing of nothing a few sorry Lepers that will soon dye of themselves though all should let them alone are you come out against me with Swords and staves saith Christ alas they might have spared that labour he was now in a most painfull agony in a bloody sweat his Soul was sorrowfull unto death under the sense and burthen of sin no need of a Sword against him The Soul that is indeed sensible knows and feels it is miserable enough though no enemy from without should ever strike a blow against it to be void of God a stranger to the Common-wealth of Israel to be a Leper full of sores to be ready to starve for hunger is not here load enough But to all these to be in continuall fears of death from an Host of enemies who can utter the miserie of this condition Surely if the Lord remove us not hence we cannot long live and continue here But 5. Another thing considerable in their present condition is The lively sense and feeling of their misery they were not asleep then the woe had been lesse but they feel where the shoe pinches As for our iniquities we know them the misery and fears lie hard upon their Souls If we sit here we dye and if we go into the City we dye the famine is there if we fall to the Army of our enemies in all appearance we dye they will surely kill us a great Strait it is truly if your Souls were sensible of it to lie still in a barren wilderness is to dye surely and if you stir a foot to get out there are pits to fall into and wilde beasts ready to devour and it is a thousand to one if one mischief or other do not destroy But all spoke in the general I told you had no force nor power in it if it come not home to us in our own conditions therefore I shewed you how the Case was ours we were the men we are the Lepers La. 3.1 I am the man that have seen affliction saith Jeremy by the rod of his wrath I told you 1. How we were out-casts cut off cast out from the common blessings which belong to Israel the word takes no effect hearing speaking and praying together they take no place touch not the heart but all we get is put into a bag of holes It comes in at one ear and goes out at another nothing abides to be blest unto us we said in our prosperity in the day of our flourishing we should never be moved nor see sorrow I but now how desolate are we voyd and destitute of all good how do we sit many a day not one good and sober thought doth passe through us because we sit as outcasts 2. An evill disease hath taken hold of us we are all overspred with the leprosie so that we cannot speak nor have any dealings with one another but we are in danger of being infected and tainted whatever we do or say or designe a selfish taint getâ— in and spoils all Let all your words be seasoned saith the Apostle but how unsavoury a breath runs in all ours unsavoury to our selves and unprofitable if not infecting to all that hear us 3. The famine is sorely upon us also and like to that which was in Samaria a Famine that puts us to it so hardly that we are made to eat our own children the fruit of our own thoughts and wisdom and reason we have no Bread from Heaven now rained upon us but Bread from the earth that is from beneath our own fleshly thoughts and counsells we have nothing else in a Strait to refresh our weary Souls withall all is spent and the Prodigall seeks to fill his belly with the Husks that the Swine eat and they fail him also 4. There is an Host of enemies hath beset us Troops that continually seek our lives and wait for our halting both from within and from without and they threaten like Goliah never to give over till they have given our flesh to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air till they have undone us when the poor soul sits sadly bemoaning it self alas I am an outcast shut out from the favour of God and of his people and am made to sit alone in my chains Alas I am a Leper and unclean My wounds stink and are corrupt a loathsome disease hath all over-run me there is no sound part from head to foot Alas I am ready to dye of the famine the word takes no place hearing is not blest to me that which was once dearer then thousands of Gold and Silver sweeter then the Hony and Hony comb more sought for then necessary food yet now all is gone the Soul is empty and dry and heartless the famine hath consumed all and yet must an Host too come against the Soul in this case this adds to all our misery greatly Here new fears perplex the Soul lest the enemy come unawares and slay it The Lepers know not what shall befall them and they are sensible of all these miseries now upon them Alas you that go and come and sit here as pictures and are no more sensible then the stones in the wall all this is nothing to you and I am wondering sometimes how it is possible you should thus sleep away your time and never consider you are going apace to Hell and
one that eat of his bread and was his familiar friend as 't is expressed in the Psalmist We took sweet counsel together and walked in the House of God as friends And this is a wonderful misery to take up Had it been an enemy I could have born it but thou my friend my familiar c. This cuts to the heart This very case befalls the Soul in which Truth is There is something that sticks near to it a friend that lies in its bosom and is nursed and favoured by it something that walks in the House of God with it and pretends to be for God and Truth and pleads hard as if all were intended for the Souls good and this will be a sad day when this very thing shall be found to be the Betrayer and yet this Christ submits to when he consents Thy Will be done 2. Fâ—rther He submits to be betrayed into the hand of Sinners And here are seven great Aggravations of misery 1. They are a multitude into whose hands he is betrayed This flattering and smooth-mouth'd Betrayer this Judas that comes with a kiss and salutes Hail Master a great multitude is at his heels he brings in a whole Troop after him Oh that you could read the thing in your selves in the work upon your own Souls For there is all this to be fulfilled if you go in the same way with Christ and tread in his steps if you drink of the same Cup as all the saved ones must for there is no other way to life but to be planted into the likeness of his death the likeness in all cases though not the very same particular Tryals that he had And now this you shall find true that when ever this Judas that betrays the Soul gets in when by his counsel or wisdom or flatterings and fair promises that cursed Betrayer gets in his foot and deceives the Soul with a kiss then he lets in a multitude of enemies against us then come in the swarmings of wickedness They compassed me about like Bees saith David Then come in all the floods of ungodliness and make the Soul afraid Then all the fountains of the great deep are broke up and come with violence ready to sweep away all before them Then the Sea brings forth abundantly all manner of creeping things Then a night presently overtakes the Soul and all the beasts of the Forrest creep forth Strange monsters and things we never saw before mire and dirt and strange wickednesses appear that we never thought had been in us This Betrayer brings out all against us We had thought we had been knowing and well seen into the ways of God but now ignorance and mists and confusion beset that the Soul cannot see nor know one distinct Truth We had thought we had been good-natured and tender-hearted and friendly however but now rage and madness and desperateness get up We had thought sure we had a will and desire towards God and were willing to be ruled and ordered by him but now the punctual fightings and opposings and resistings shew themselves that the Soul is made clearly to see it chooseth Death rather then Life All monstrous wickedness gets up when this son of perdition is to be revealed in the Soul and hath once betrayed it I would you might read these things as we go for all this a written for our learning and if this was done to the green tree then what shall be done to the dry This is no other condition then what hath befallen our fathers in their day When God hath brought them to Judgment and this work of bringing them through death to life was in hand they ever had a Betrayer that lay close and did them all the mischief and brought these Troops of Enemies against them and it cannot be prevented This son of perdition will thus act he will betray and bring the Soul to death and he lies close he is in all the saved ones and there is no other way to life but by having him cast out But he will first surely spit his poyson and play all his pranks if it were possible to undo the very Elect Such an Host such a multitude he brings with him that sometimes it agasters and amazes the man to see how he is beset what swarms of iniquities strange unthought of lusts appear And we shall all surely find this true in our selves when God shall have that work in hand of bringing us down to death the house appointed for all the living which all the saved ones must pass 2. This multitude come armed and provided against him with swords and staves and herein lies a great mystery if you were able to read it Thy rod and thy staff sustain me saith David The Enemy also he hath swords and staves to destroy and mind there are staves as well as swords Now staves are dull weapons and though they may bruise and batter yet they kill not and this is a great aggravation of the misery that the sword may not come alone suddenly to cut off and make an end but there are staves too that bruise and batter the Soul and yet touch not its life but it must hang in death And this Job cries out against O that I could find the grave then should I be at rest I but in those dayes it is said men shall seek death and it shall fly from them They cannot dye and this wonderfully adds to the misery that the Soul is wounded and cut and pierced and yet cannot reach to dye the staves keep off the sharpness of the Sword that it doth not quite kill The Sword of the spirit is the Word of God the true Light that the enemy makes use of that searches and cuts and judges and finds guilty every where and leaves no thought unjudged and this Sword would soon cut off where it let loose Thou writest bitter things against me saith Job and this though it be cruell yet it would seem easier to the Soul in that day and under that anguish if it might but go on to make an end then should I yet have comfort c. saith Job Iob 69 10. But there are staves too that keep off the blow from coming to the heart There are secret hopes from the Devil steal in and get up do the Soul what it can that so it cannot dye but lies thus miserably hattered to and fro and can get no wayes as David cries out Thou hast beset me behind and before that the Soul can neither get to God nor from God nor to death nor from death O Lord who can read the Riddle 3. This multitude lay hold on Christ and lead him away they are too potent and strong and he hath no might nor strength to withstand them This is your hour and the Power of darkness but it is the day of his weakness his wings are cut that he cannot get away He cries out I am a worm and no man a scorn and reproach